Black Box 4/3/09

Black Box 4/3/09

Friday's Black Box


Friday is a day to crash. Crash meaning "to kick back and relax." And also, for me, meaning to violently burn to the ground in a heap of broken pieces because of all of the things that I have neglected to write about during the week. Since this happens pretty much every friday, I've resolved to go the way of the airplane and record everything in a tiny black box. Also, for your convenience I have decided to forgo the inevitable casualties usually associated with plane crashes. Cheers.

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New Joanna Newsom!

Ok, so here is what happened. On monday, I post about how I am frustrated that Joanna Newsom hasn't made any music for a long time. Then on tuesday, she plays a secret show debuting two and a half hours of music. So obviously, the only thing I can conclude from that is Joanna Newsom reads this blog! Right? Please...? Ok fine. But still, this is awesome news. Via Naturalismo Newsom, playing under the pseudonym "The Beatles's" played through her forthcoming 3rd LP which "combines the strong melodic presence of songs on The Milk-Eyed Mender with her continued instrumentational prowess and maturation beyond Ys." Apparently there are some "Only Skin"-esque songs over the 12 minute mark and a bit more of a focus on piano. Be sure I will keep you updated on everything I know about this.
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Phoenix on SNL

French popsters, Phoenix, will grace the Seth Rogen hosted SNL on the morrow promoting their forthcoming album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which is out on May 26. Definitely sound promising.

Phoenix "1901" - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [2009]
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps" Covered A Cappella

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New Bob Dylan Track, Lp

Bobby D has made a track from his forthcoming 46th LP, Together Through Life, via this website. The track is entitled "Beyond Here Lies Nothin" and is free. Album's out 4/28 on Columbia.

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Cryptacize Have Video for "Blue Tears"

Sufjan loves this band. We love this band. Maybe you love this band? Check the vid.

If you do love this band, then buy their forthcoming (how many times can I say forthcoming in this post?) album Mythomania on April 21st via Asthmatic Kitty.

Cryptacize "Blue Tears" - Mythomania [2009]
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Bat For Lashes Album on Myspace

You can now Stream her forth-------- album for free. I am still on the fence about this one. Let me know what you think. It seems like it is trying to be really big and grand but I'm just not sure that it has enough content to fill all that space. Not to mention it employs the now ubiquitous synths.

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Yeasayer Video from Dark Was the Night

In addition to writing their follow album to the excellent All Hour Cymbals, Brooklyn's Yeasayer made this video of their also excellent contribution to the charitable Dark Was the Night compilation. It's a lot more intimate than the recorded version, which offers a new angle to the song that I think is really interesting.

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Stuart Murdoch Offers Song from his Musical

Belle and Sebastianite, Stuart Murdoch has written a musical. He calls this musical God Help the Girl. The music itself is mostly new material with a few old B&S songs. The album is due June 23 on Matador and the first single "Come Monday Night" is out May 11, but you can hear it right now on the God Help the Girl MySpace.
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Sigur Rós performed an acoustic version of the title track to last years beautiful 'Með suð í eyrum' for the French blog La Blogotheque. They bang on a bucket, which I think is rad.